Fic recs, October 24th! · 2:36pm Oct 24th, 2018

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Almost posted the wrong review today. XD

H: 1 R: 2 C: 1 V: 1 N: 0

The Book of Might Have Beens by Cold in Gardez
Paid Review for Cold in Gardez
Genre: What-If?
"Have you ever wanted to just set a book on fire?" asked Princess Twilight Sparkle.
So Twilight makes a magic book that's supposed to show what could have been, for the purpose of settling arguments about hypotheticals. It doesn't work as intended. Starlight asks to use it for one night before Twilight destroys it, and so begins the heartache. This contains some shipping, and goes to some dark places, but none of it's real, so does it matter? After posing a question, this explores the consequences of lingering on what-ifs and how things could have turned out differently for you: not better, not worse, just different. This is marvelous.
Highly Recommended

Bitter Onions by Epic Yarn
Sequel to Sweet Carrots
Paid Review for BlazzingInferno
Genre: Slice of Life
Carrot Cake's mother comes to Ponyville to meet her grandchildren.
I've seen many, many stories written on the subject of the Cake twins' parentage; you know the score, nothing more need be said. Yet it's amazing how much this story breathes life into what is by now a tired idea from season two, with the sole inclusion of Maman l'Oignon, Carrot Cake's stern Prench mother and the surprise standout of Sweet Carrots. This short piece is entirely from her POV and marvelously voiced. And while you certainly can read it as a stand-alone, per the description, you'll get the most out of it by treating it as a true sequel. l'Oignon is not painted in the bravest light; shall we say, she is kind enough to leave her least charitable thoughts as thoughts, and leave it at that. She hates Mrs. Cake; she always has. But by the end, we see that there is more to her than the stubborn old harridan she comes off as, even when we're in her head. This was a treat.
Recommended

Up Where the Air Is Clear by Rambling Writer
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Flight Fic
When she was young, Rainbow Dash had tried to fly to the moon.
Someone recently asked, what ensures you will read a fanfic? One possible answer from me: Make the title a reference to something I dearly love. :V There are, however, no kites to be flown here; that would need a Starlight. Instead, this is one of those stories which turns pegasus flight into an exercise in contemplation and introspection. I'm not a huge fan of those, but I can't deny the imagery in this story is excellent. It covers a whole range, too, including touch, smell and — especially — proprioception. It's a decent character study of Rainbow Dash, to boot. Not bad!
Recommended

The Fish Had to Die by Majin Syeekoh
Read by Fimfiction
Sequel to The Sauce Must Flow
Genre: Absurdity
That poor fish.
The fuck. The Sauce Must Flow was a weird story; this is bizarre. It's got that same "randomness in the way real life is random" quality to it, but… It's about White Lightning dropping a fish while in flight, just to see what happens. <.< When she knows damn well it's gonna die. This is either mad genius or utter folderol, and I have no idea what the right answer is.
Recommended as Light Reading?

My Sister Scootaloo by Tangerine Blast
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: PoE
This bills itself as a Most Dangerous Game entry, which makes me ask… How the hell did I miss it? @_@ I reviewed all of those already! So, we go into it again, with the MLD prompt, no less. It's not much of an inversion of MLD, for all that Kate, our protagonist, lives in a significantly better area than that of the original. She finds Scootaloo, takes her in, stuff happens more or less like you'd expect. It's not terrible, but the writing really leaves something to be desired. Lots of typos and errors, not terribly polished, and the time skips don't feel genuine. That said, the dialogue isn't too bad, and Kate's a real character. She's got a killer wit in places, and for all that she's a shutin co-dependency case, she kind of reminded me of Daphne from Through the Well of Pirene. Still, this is on average just okay, and not really worth reading unless you're really into the MLD template.
Vaguely Recommended